


Fragile Promises

by KillianJones32



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Goodbyes, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 16:49:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8454223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillianJones32/pseuds/KillianJones32
Summary: When Dean received word that Voldemort had taken over the Ministry, his heart sank to his stomach because he just knew that he couldn’t leave without saying goodbye. 
Not to his parents, his sisters...but most of all he couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Seamus.





	

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt: “There’s a difference between being brave and being stupid.”

...

When Dumbledore died, Dean knew it would only be a matter of time before the death eaters took over the Ministry of Magic. 

When he went home for the summer, he began to make arrangements. He emptied out both his muggle and Gringotts’ savings accounts, hid a rucksack of necessary items (clothes, food, toothbrush, toothpaste, sketch pad, pencils etc.) under his bed and had carefully thought out his destinations for when the time comes, for when he needs to run at a moment’s notice. 

Except...when Dean received word that Voldemort had taken over the Ministry, his heart sank to his stomach because he just knew that he couldn’t leave without saying goodbye. 

Not to his parents, his sisters...but most of all he couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Seamus. 

Which is how he ended up at the Finnegan’s cottage in the west of Ireland with a rucksack strapped to his back (he could shrink it but he’s trying to use as little magic as possible for the time being), his mother’s recently fallen tears still etched into the fabric of his t-shirt and his hands trembling as he raises one fist to knock on the front door. 

Two minutes later the door is flung open and Dean is met with a stern faced Seamus and a wand pointed at his chest. 

“Shay I-“ 

“Which is better quiddich or football?” 

Dean frowns, “Em, football, obviously; why-?” 

Dean is cut off by Seamus colliding into him and hugging him tightly. 

“Sorry” Seamus’s warm breath murmurs into Dean’s ear and Dean shivers, “Needed to make sure you were you. Plus I figured most death eaters wouldn’t have a clue what football was so…” 

Dean smiles and wraps his arms around Seamus’s waist. 

“Sorry I couldn’t give you any warning that I was coming, I’m trying not to draw attention to myself.” 

Seamus pulls back and settles flat on his feet again grinning, “You’re always gonna draw attention to yourself with the height of yeh anyway.” 

Dean rolls his eyes but has to stifle back a laugh, “Suppose so yeah.” 

“You gonna come in then or what?” 

Seamus’s parents have thankfully gone to visit their cousins so they have the house to themselves. 

They sit facing one another at the small kitchen table, their legs not so accidentally brushing against one another’s as they sip at their hot tea. 

Seamus eventually breaks the tangible silence by asking the rhetorical question, 

“You heard didn’t you?” 

Dean slowly nods, instantly knowing what Seamus is talking about. 

“I saw it in the Daily Prophet.” Dean places his teacup back on the table “Muggleborns have to report to the Ministry now.” 

“But you’re not a muggleborn! Or at least not officially we don’t know if you are or not.” 

Dean leans over and places his warm hand over Seamus’s, 

“Shay, you know it’s not that simple.” 

Seamus looks him dead in the eye for a minute and then shrugs. 

“Well then we’ll just have to find your Da.” 

“Shay-“ 

“We can search him in the library when we get to Hogwarts, or me Ma knows a few people, she could ask around, we can-“ 

Dean leans over the table and kisses Seamus on the lips tenderly. 

He doesn’t know what makes him do it right then. But the second he feels Seamus’s soft lips begin to kiss him back, Dean knows that he’s wanted this for what could have been forever. 

Dean pulls back quickly and leans his forehead against Seamus’s. His back hurts from the uncomfortable position but he really couldn’t care less. 

“It’s too risky” Dean whispers “We tried for most of second year to find out more information about my dad remember? So I wouldn’t get petrified from the basilisk. If we couldn’t find him back then, then we won’t be able to find him now.” 

Dean hears Seamus swallow. 

“Please don’t go.” 

Dean pulls back and sits in the chair beside Seamus, now holding the other hand in his too. 

“Shay I-“ 

“I know you, I know you want to run, that you feel like you have to run but I’ll protect you.” 

Seamus’s eyes are wide and alight with determination.

Dean smiles sadly at the lack of fear in those eyes. Seamus’s expression is exactly the one that he wore in their younger years at Hogwarts, during potions when he deliberately set an assignment on fire just to piss off Snape, up in the dorms, both of them curled close in one of their beds as they whispered in hushed tones about the others in their dorm, about Sirius Black or whether joining the D.A. was a good idea or not. 

“I can’t let you get hurt” Dean replies simply. 

And it’s the truth. When this war officially started at the end of fifth year, Dean’s first thought was what if Seamus gets hurt then it was what if his family gets hurt and then his friends. He can’t let anyone get hurt because he’s a muggleborn. He needs to go. 

Seamus shakes his head, his eyes crinkling and his strong resolve slowly crumbling. 

“I’ll-you’ll stay here. We’ll both stay here. Ma and Da won’t mind, I swear Dean and we’ll, we’ll be okay. There are spells we can put up so nobody will find you. We can go into hiding if we need to; those bastard death eaters won’t like me too much anyway with me Da being muggleborn and all. We can-“ 

“Shay” Dean interrupts him once he feels Seamus’s hands start to tremble under his, “Shay I need to go, I need to keep you safe, to keep my family safe. I can’t put you in danger.” 

Seamus scoffs, “When did you get so brave and noble?” 

Dean shuffles forward so he’s sitting closer to Seamus, so close that he spots Seamus’s eyes briefly dart to Dean’s lips for a split second. 

“Well I’ve been living with Harry Potter for six years so I suppose some of it rubbed off on me.” Dean jokes. 

Seamus releases a barely audibly amused snort, 

“Yeah well, there’s a difference between being brave and being stupid. You wanting to run away, that’s-that’s just plain stupid.” 

Dean unconsciously traces Seamus’s cheek with his finger. He brushes over the constellation of familiar brown freckles on pale cheeks that he has carefully drawn over a dozen times before. 

“What would you do Shay?” Dean inquires, guilt pooling in his stomach for pulling out this card but he knows he has to, “If you were in my position what would you do?” 

Seamus’s eyes flicker back and forth between Dean’s but it takes him less than a minute to respond. 

“I’d want to be with you” Seamus states, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“And I want to be with you.” Dean swears “In more ways than one, you’ve got to believe that. But if I stay here they’ll find me, they’ll find us and I can’t let you and your family get hurt because of me. I want to get out of this war alive and with you by my side but to do that I have to go.” 

Seamus closes his eyes and his breathing becomes shallower. Dean feels water threaten to spill over his own eyes because he knows that Seamus has finally accepted that Dean is right. 

And maybe there was a part of Dean that was so selfish that he hoped Seamus would talk him out of this whole thing and that they could wage this war together. 

But that’s simply a fantasy, a fantasy that Dean can never have and he hates that he knows that. 

“Okay” Seamus declares 

“Okay?” 

Seamus opens his eyes and his eyes are glazed over too but the determined edge is still etched into them. 

“I won’t stop you from running.” 

Dean slips his fingers into Seamus’s hair and lets out a long breath, “I-“ 

“But you have to promise me something” Seamus adds 

Dean opens his mouth before closing it and he nods. 

Seamus licks his lips, “You have to promise me that you’ll come back to me.” 

Dean’s long fingers pause their running through the sandy strands of Seamus’s hair. 

“Shay-“ 

“And I don’t just mean that you’ve to come back.” Seamus proclaims, “I mean you’ve to come back alive and healthy. One or two minor gashes is all you’re allowed and they better be really small and simple like you stubbed your toe or accidentally hit yourself in the face with your wand. You…you have to come back to me okay.” 

Dean feels something wet dance down his cheek and then he realises that he’s crying. 

“I…I’ll try.”

Dean watches as tears finally fall from Seamus’s eyes and Dean immediately goes to gently brush them away. 

“I promise” Dean corrects himself, willing to say anything just to make Seamus feel that tiniest bit better, “I promise Shay, I’ll come back to you. I’ll come home to you as soon as I can.” 

Seamus’s eyes search Dean’s face for any hint of a lie and when he finds none he leans his head into Dean’s shoulder and just breathes. 

They stay like that for a while, their eyes closed as they breathe in the familiar scent of one another, memorising the feel of their intertwined hands as they try to remember this moment where it was just the two of them while silently reminiscing on their youthful days where they believed they could take on the world once the other was by their side.

If only it was that simple today. 

It’s all too soon that it’s time for Dean to go. 

Their tears have dried and their smiles have faded. Seamus has lost that determined look in his eyes as it has been replaced by worry and a sickening display of fear. 

Dean isn’t sure that he’s ever seen Seamus afraid before and that alone terrifies him more than any death eater ever could. 

Dean stands on the doorstep and Seamus leans against the doorway of his front door, both unsure of what to say that could make this heart-wrenching goodbye easier. 

“You have a plan yeah?” Seamus questions 

Dean nods, “Yeah, I’ve got a plan for a few months anyway. Then I have one or two backups as well.” 

“Good, that’s eh, that’s good.” 

Dean steps forward and leans down so he and Seamus are practically the same height. 

“Seamus I-“ 

“I love you” Seamus interjects, his features softer and more vulnerable than Dean has ever seen them.

Dean hesitates for a second, taking in those beautiful words before he leans in and kisses Seamus again, letting the kiss last this time. 

Seamus raises his arms and wraps them around the back of Dean’s neck. Dean grips onto Seamus’s hips ever so lightly so that he doesn’t hurt him. Dean licks the top of Seamus’s lip and then the kiss is deepened. 

Neither one of them is willing to let go, both content in hearing the other’s heartbeat rapidly increase as their bodies press together in the warm summer’s air. 

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and after a few minutes both boys are forced to come up for air. 

Dean opens his eyes and takes in the sight in front of him, marking the fierce, wild blue eyes, the pale Irish skin, the scattered chocolate coloured freckles and the blood-red tainted lips into his memory forever. 

Dean steps away, giving Seamus’s hand a final squeeze and just before he turns to disapparate into thin air, he whispers the four words that he should have said an awful long time ago. 

“I love you Shay.” 

There’s a distinctive, echoing cracking sound and just like that, Dean Thomas is gone. 

...

**Author's Note:**

> [x](http://jamesxlilyxpotter.tumblr.com/post/152649835608/160-nevillexhannah-andor-143-deamus)


End file.
